Jed King, a history teacher and the head football coach at Octorara Junior-Senior High School, was there when football began at Octorara.

"I was digging the holes and helping to pour the cement for the goal posts. I watched the bleachers get redone," he said. "To see this program grow from what we were (to) what we've become is amazing."

Now, 15 years later, the Octorara Area Education Association has announced that King was named the Coach of the Year for Section 4 of the Lancaster-Lebanon (L-L) League. The winner of the annual award is selected by all of the head coaches in the L-L League.

"The coach of the team that wins the section is usually the person most people vote for," explained King. "I voted for Bob Miller from ELCO (Eastern Lebanon County) High School because his team won the section, so I was not expecting to get the vote. (I believe) they voted for me because Octorara had such a good year - such an improvement from last year, where we only had two wins."

Despite a shortened 2020 season, which included many new health and safety protocols because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was Octorara's first winning season, finishing with a 6-2 record.

"My best record prior to this was 5-6. We never had a winning season until this year. ELCO was the only team we lost to this year in our section, 22-19," King reported. "This is the most successful team I have ever coached. If this was a normal year, we would have made the district playoffs, (but) they took less teams because of COVID."

Many of this year's team members played in the Octorara youth football program when it first began. "When they came to football camp in summer (years ago), they were little. Now I (coach) them as young men," King said.

He credited much of this year's success to the players of the Class of 2021, five of whom earned spots as Section 4 All-Stars. "I am proud of the young men they have grown into, and I can't wait to see them walk across the stage at graduation," King said.

When King began at teaching at Octorara, he was a defensive coordinator for the Avon Grove High School football team. Soon after, he was asked to be the head coach of a new football program at Octorara.

"I watched it grow from being a program that was new and struggling and battling through tough games and tough years with kids who did not have a football upbringing," said King, a graduate of the Solanco School District. "Getting to see the successful growing of a program was really rewarding for me as a coach."

For winning the honor, King received a commemorative clock, which includes a plaque with a Coach of the Year inscription.

"It's not an award just about me. This is really an award for the team, the staff and the community," he said, also crediting his wife, Michelle, for her support through his 15 years of coaching. "Watching the football program at Octorara grow has been a pleasure. It's been a journey. That what life is about; it's the journey, not the destination."